Blackpool's heritage tram problems are financial after all

PLUS: The latest on the Jameson Road landfill

Hello and welcome to a very busy edition of The Blackpool Lead.

The Blackpool Lead reported in December that there was reason to doubt the denials that the suspension of heritage trams happened for financial reasons.

If redundancies earlier this year don’t confirm that, then one Blackpool Transport boss this week stating that without money they’ll never get back on track does.

The situation is frustrating - and the latest is that they’ll be up and running by the time the illuminations return.

We also return to Fleetwood, where a community liaison meeting over the Jameson Road landfill has led to yet more frustration. The residents believe their health is being affected - the operators of the site do not.

We’ve spoken to those residents who have had their lives affected by the landfill for today’s issue.

Is the suspension of Blackpool’s heritage trams really temporary?

By Jamie Lopez

One of Blackpool’s heritage trams

Frustrations over the suspension of Blackpool’s heritage trams went public this week as a senior figure revealed £150,000 would be needed to bring them back into use.

Operations are currently suspended on the much-loved attraction, with Blackpool Transport initially blaming operational and safety issues for a decision which was made late last year.

It then emerged that the railway regulator visited Blackpool shortly before the shock decision to halt the heritage trams and that two senior figures within the organisation have been suspended. There have also been redundancies among the team of engineers which serviced the tram.

The Blackpool Lead has previously reported on claims the decision was instead made for financial reasons and that was effectively confirmed by the head of heritage Blackpool Transport Services this week as he told the BBC that funding was not currently in place to restore the service.

Bryan Lindop said £150,000 needed to be found at that “at this moment we can't run any trams, we've got no income, and we need some money”. It was seen as a highly unusual intervention for a senior figure at a council-owned company effectively calling for the council to provide the funding. It is understood that he spoke out after a failure to make progress over the service’s fundings behind closed doors.

Multiple sources have also told The Blackpool Lead that a far greater sum will be needed to bring the engineering works up to modern standards, which is part of the reason why the trams are to be moved to the Starr Gate depot. Meanwhile, there are fears that the longer the trams are left without use, the greater the cost and difficulty will be to eventually bring them back to use.

There remains differing claims on who was ultimately responsible for the decision to suspend the heritage trams but Blackpool Council and the transport service publicly say it was made jointly.

One source said there was some frustration within the transport service that more funding wasn’t being made available given the contributions it had made to the council’s budget in previous years. The accounts for the transport service, which operates as a private company but is wholly owned by the local authority, show it has struggled to return to pre-covid figures but before 2021 was regularly generating in excess of £500,000 in dividends for the council.

Blackpool South MP Chris Webb told The Blackpool Lead that he plans to meet with both parties to ensure a proper resolution is found. He said: “It’s disappointing not to see the heritage trams back at the start of the season. I know many Blackpool residents and tourists have fond memories of our wonderful heritage trams and want to see them back on our promenade.

“I’ll be working with the council and Blackpool Transport to get these operational as soon as possible because Blackpool Promenade is missing one of our crown jewels at this moment in time.”

The current plan will see two of the heritage trams return to be a part of the Lightpool festival in October. That means they will be unavailable for Blackpool Pride when they had expected to be in high demand, in addition to other missed bookings such as weddings which had hoped to involve the iconic vehicles.

Jane Cole, Managing Director of Blackpool Transport Services, said: “Last December we announced that the heritage tram service would be temporarily suspended. This decision was made in conjunction with Blackpool Council.

“Since then we have been working closely to resolve the logistical and financial challenges of operating the heritage trams solely out of the Starr Gate depot.

“The plans to run the heritage trams during the 2025 illumination period are progressing well. The costs of moving the operation to Starr Gate will be met by Blackpool Transport Services and Blackpool Council.”

Behind the scenes, volunteers have been working hard to transform the engineering works at Rigby Road into an exhibition experience which opened over Easter. This allows the public to walk around freely in the works, see some of the trams as well as sit on one, and see the history of the Blackpool Tram system and its Illuminations.

Cllr Paul Galley, the volunteer coordinator of Tramtown, said: "We had a fantastic launch of the Tramtown exhibition hall and I would encourage everyone who is worried about Blackpool's oldest trams to support us by coming along.

“Our role at Tramtown is to restore the home of the trams by creating a unique visitor attraction and in time pay for an engineer to help run them."

Tramtown is open every Saturday and Monday from 10am - 2pm and from July will also be open on Wednesdays. Adult tickets are £5 and children are £2.50.

Blackpool Council was approached for comment.

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Transwaste refuse to accept health implications from Jameson Road landfill

The community liaison group, consisting of parents, campaigners, politicians and Transwaste and the Environment Agency met on Friday (25 April) with the friction over whether the odours are having a health impact continuing.

Transwaste points to out-of-date UKHSA data to support their assertion that the landfill cannot be having the health impact that residents believe it has.

But data from 2025 - specifically this January-March period where complaints significantly increased - has not been made available.

The site has just emerged from its second suspension notice over the odours being recorded. The Environment Agency confirmed that Transwaste completed the work requested, but the odour issues have not been resolved.

Jess Brown, the Facebook admin of the Action Against Jameson Road landfill and who we have spoken to for today’s piece below, described the attitude from Transwaste regarding any potential health impacts during Friday’s meeting as dismissive.

Dr Barbara Kneale spoke of her frustration that no NHS representative was able to attend the meeting to speak about whether the health service has seen any impact. She also called on Wyre Council - who made clear that they are a financially-healthy authority on a number of occasions over the past week - to commission a community impact study in the quarry. This was an option undertaken by Staffordshire County Council for the Walleys Quarry in Newcastle-under-Lyme.

That particular study was unable to conclude that there were no health impacts from the now-closed site.

A section focused on health impacts reads:

The continuing exposure of the population to elevated levels of hydrogen sulphide that are experienced by individuals in the vicinity of the Walleys Quarry site has resulted in people experiencing a range of short-term health symptoms, including headaches, nausea, dizziness, eye and skin irritation, wheezing and coughing.

The UKHSA has highlighted that the risk to long-term (lifetime) health cannot be excluded, where concentrations are above the long-term health-based guidance value.

You can have a read of that report by looking here.

“It needs to be closed down. It’s the only option… it’s destroying people’s lives…”

By Luke Beardsworth

Jess Brown with daughter Maliha

Jess Brown, 34, lives with her eight-year-old daughter Maliha and her mother, 65, in the centre of Fleetwood.

The Jameson Road landfill reopened in September 2023 with little to no public consultation - the point that residents weren’t sure exactly what they were smelling to begin with.

Since then, the Environment Agency has issued two suspension notices with the most recent being lifted after operator Transwaste was deemed to have made the required improvements. But the smells continue and complaints continue to rush in to the Environment Agency, Transwaste and Wyre Council.

Maliha has had minor issues with asthma in the past but since January - when complaints really began to spike - has had to take time off school for issues she hasn’t experienced before.

Jess told The Blackpool Lead: “She’s had about five weeks off school since January. There’s not really any explanation for why she’s been ill.

“Her breathing goes really bad and she’s having to go for a blood test.

“My mum has severe COPD (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and has been very ill, coinciding with the stench. Something needs to be done urgently.

“She’s had chest infections, she’s not been able to leave home, her breathing has been worse.”

Jess has been central to any campaigning against the Jameson Road landfill, working with fellow campaigners like Allison Rowe and Dr Barbara Kneale.

She created the Facebook group with thousands of members keeping each other updated and speaking directly and passionately to authorities at Fleetwood Town Football Club last week. She also attends the community liaison group meetings attended by, among others, Transwaste and Wyre Council.

Transwaste have stated their belief, citing UKHSA data gathered in the summer of 2024, that the landfill is not causing or worsening any health issues. But more recent UKHSA data about what is coming from the landfill remains elusive.

Meanwhile, the Environment Agency maintain their objective is not to close the landfill but ensure it is works without impacting residents within the proper laws and guidelines. They have said their ability to be fully transparent with residents is hampered by the open investigation they have against Transwaste.

She said: “There are lots of people displaying these same symptoms but a lot of people didn’t know the landfill had even reopened for a long time.”

Like many, she has lost faith in the ability of authorities to be transparent about the issue and effectively protect the public.

“It needs to be closed down. It’s the only option. They cannot do their jobs properly and it’s destroying people’s lives. Wyre Council and the Environment Agency need to take responsibility for the situation and they haven’t.”